WHEN Liza (not her real name) suspected that she could have contracted a sexually transmitted disease (STD) from her partner, her distress turned into fear and shame of being found out if she were to seek medical attention at the local clinic.

That’s when she tried to search online for a right diagnosis and treatment, resulting in her chancing upon Malaysia’s first online medical consultation website, DoctorOnCall.

“I feel more comfortable seeing the doctor online than going to a clinic or hospital where there are so many other people,” Liza said after her session with the doctor.

“I don’t want to talk about my condition when there are others within ear shot,” she said, adding that she has since been treated for her STD.

Meeting a need in the medical industry

The idea for DoctorOnCall, or DOC, was to provide a way for Malaysian patients to save money on medical bills while not compromising on their health.

Maran Virumandi, a former management consultant who now owns and runs a group of medical clinics, launched DOC with his partner Hazwan Najib in light of the increasing cost of healthcare in the country.

Research by Mercer Marsh Benefits last year found that medical costs were projected to go up by 11.5% against a 2.1% inflation rate in Asia.

The survey with 171 insurers across the region last year revealed that Malaysia was recording the second highest cost increase at 17.3%, following Vietnam’s 19.3%.

“A visit to a private GP (general practitioner) can cost a few hundred ringgit. A treatment for cold could be RM120 to RM140,” Maran said.

Costs to run clinics and private hospitals are also going up, with the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) reportedly estimating that over 500 private clinics had shut down in the last five years.

With DOC, a patient only pays RM20 for consultation via webchat, video chat or phone call.

If medication is prescribed at the end of the diagnosis, the patient can choose to just pick up the meds from an affiliated pharmacy, or get it delivered to their doorstep.

Dr Adeline Peters, one of the virtual on-call doctors, said all patients had to do was log onto the website www.doctoroncall.com.my and enter their symptoms.

“They can chat online or talk to a doctor on standby via a phone or video call.

“We usually begin by introducing ourselves before getting consent to proceed with a video consultation,” she told The Malaysian Insight via a DOC video call.

Dr Peters, a family GP who also specialises in women’s health, said doctors would ask questions to help them diagnose the patients’ conditions, and give general medical advice.

“If the doctor suspects it could be something more than a cough or cold, he or she will recommend the patient take a test at their nearest clinic,” she said, adding that most cases she had handled were quite straight-forward.

A future in Malaysia’s healthcare industry?

DoctorOnCall currently has over 2,000 patients, including some outside Kuala Lumpur and foreign holidaymakers, served by 10 partner clinics and 30 doctors with experience that spans eight to 15 years.

Maran said he was confident more doctors and medical groups would take up the concept soon, adding that doctors could use their downtime – when they have no patients at their clinics – to see patients online.

“It is an open platform like Uber and Grabcar. Doctors are crowdsourced, and they don’t run by fixed office hours,” he said.

Maran said the platform not only made it possible for patients to get medical advice from doctors in other states, but also gave people the opportunity to seek a second opinion for their ailments.

While still a new concept in Malaysia, Maran said the concept of telemedicine has been around in the United States for 20 years now.

“India has been using this to help grow its medical tourism sector,” he said.

Maran said apart from helping companies cut healthcare costs for staff, this platform could also help reduce congestion of patients at government hospitals.

The main deterrent to the growth of telemedicine in Malaysia was the lack of government regulations to monitor the medical diagnosis made online, said Maran.

“We were asked if this is real or a scam. Perhaps the concept is still too revolutionary,” he said.

He said DoctorOnCall had consulted the Health Ministry, the Malaysian Medical Association and Malaysian Medical Council on the matter, adding that his company was working with MMA to come up with guidelines.

“There is no Act that regulates doctors working online. The Telemedicine Act has not been gazetted in Malaysia,” he said.

As a precautionary measure, the doctors on call do not deal with dangerous drugs and can only diagnose or prescribe medication following a phone or video chat with patients.

“We always tell our doctors that they must never misdiagnose, to advise patients not to lie in attempts to obtain certain meds.

“The doctors will tend to be more conservative when they deal with patients online,” he said.

While the convenience and cost-saving have been a major attraction for patients, a large number of DOC users have found the privacy that the service offers, its biggest lure.

The most common conditions handled by the doctors online include sore throats, headaches, minor injuries, skin conditions, eye conditions, colds, fevers, and constipation.

And then there are the many with sexually transmitted diseases.

Maran said when they started in April last year, the early adopters of DoctorOnCall were those with STD issues like Liza.

He said many patients were young women seeking advice on birth control and pregnancy tests, and sex industry workers worried about contracting AIDS and other health issues.

“Many of them look for private and confidential channels for medical consultation,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

“People don’t want to go to their neighbourhood clinic to treat such issues.” – April 9, 2017.